Sydney Vollhardt
Class of 2021
Education: BS in Micro Biology at Cal Poly Pomona; MS in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly
Biography
Sydney has always had a love for learning. She majored in and obtained her bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Cal Poly Pomona. At Cal Poly Pomona she took a stem cell class where was able to work hands on with stem cell and learn that regenerative Medicine can be used in immunotherapy, cancer research, pharmaceuticals, and so on. Sydney believes that regenerative medicine will alter the practice of current medicine, and will allow for researchers to cure diseases that were once believed to be uncurable. She is excited for the future of medicine and plans to pursue a career in which she can utilize her degrees while working in immunotherapy. She hopes that through this program she will be able to clarify her career aspirations, and work for a company that will change the path of medicine by making a difference in the quality of life.
Sydney interned at T-cure Bioscience where she worked on the TCR discovery and validation teams. At T-cure, her manager was Helicia Paz-Chang, a Principal Scientist who has studied T cells and T cell immunotherapy for years. T-Cure is a biotech company that is committed to delivering effective and durable cell therapies. Specifically, T-cure is developing a new generation of clinical-stage T Cell Receptor Therapies to target solid tumor antigens. Sydney had been given a Class II TCR to validate, and had also been given the opportunity to work on the iSORT team, a process in which new TCRs are discovered for the company. Once a TCR is validated, the therapy could move onto the next stage of clinical development.
